


The Devil Burns Cold

by BowtiesonBakerStreet



Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers Tower, Eventual Relationships, F/M, Found Family, Maybe somewhere between season 1 and 2, No idea where this is in Daredevil canon, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Reader Has Powers, Slow Burn, everyone made up and they're happy now okay, handwaving over the events of civil war
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-20 17:50:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18997525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BowtiesonBakerStreet/pseuds/BowtiesonBakerStreet
Summary: Adjusting to life as a superhero is hard. Learning to trust others with your past is harder. You find solace in an unlikely place with the Devil of Hell's Kitchen.





	1. Chapter 1

“Why am I the one who has to do this again?”

You can’t help the nervous hitch in your walk as you make your way down the New York City streets towards Hell’s Kitchen.

“Because you’re the newest pledge, kiddo. Gotta go through the hazing like everyone else.” Tony’s unmistakable voice comes through the comm link in your ear. You groan and drag your feet a little as you walk.

“It’s not that bad. He’s only incredibly intimidating.” Scott chimes in.

“Thanks, Scott. What would I do without my moral support?”

“The Man-Ant is exaggerating, this Devil is nothing to fear” Thor’s deep voice booms from the comm.

“I’d say he’s only slightly less intimidating than Nat.” Says Hawkeye.

“Great.”

“Oh, I’d make sure you’re nice and limber too, guy is a parkour master. May as well be a friggin’ acrobat on those rooftops” he adds.

“You guys really aren’t helping here.” you say with a groan. “What do we even need this dude for? It’s one arms operation in Hell’s Kitchen, why not just storm the place and kick some ass?”

“Think of it as a professional courtesy.” says Captain America’s voice of reason, as usual. “He’s made it _abundantly_ clear in the past that Hell’s Kitchen is his territory. And we can’t afford to be making enemies in the wrong places”.

“It’s always seemed like micromanaging to me, but hey, that’s ten less blocks we have to patrol” says Sam.

“So you’re telling me that all of you have met up with this dude before? And no one has ever gotten him to team up with us?”

“Big Red’s always been a bit of a lone wolf” quips Tony.

“Big Red?”

“You’ll get it when you see him.”

“Whenever we’ve tried teaming up with him he just takes the information and deals with the problem himself. “ Cap continues. “I don’t think it’s anything personal, though. He just seems to like his privacy.”

“Wonderful.  A brooding vigilante who doesn’t play well with others. He’d fit in perfectly around the tower.”

“Ain’t that the truth” You hear Sam murmur, making you smirk. In all honesty that couldn’t be further from the truth. You’d only been a full-fledged member of the Avengers for less than a month, but even so, they had quickly become a family you’d only ever dreamed of having. You really couldn’t imagine a world without them at this point.

“Alright, snowflake, I got a lock on him.” Tony says in your ear.

“Where at?”

“Rooftop, three buildings in front of you, then two to the left.”

“On it.”

You take a deep breath to ground yourself and focus your thoughts, then look up as you approach the building you need to scale. It’s not too bad, only about 6 or 7 stories, but you’re still trying to get used to controlling your powers to overcome such challenges, it always takes a little creativity. With a slow exhale through your mouth you put one hand in front of you and one behind. Your front hand summons ice that becomes thick enough to create a kind of path and your other hand blasts an enormous, but precise, steady stream of ice cold air, propelling you up on the slick path being continually created in front of you until you reach the rooftop of the building.

You unleash a grin and give a small pump of your fist as you land on the rooftop.

“Nailed it” you whisper to yourself.

“Hey you’re getting better at that, Frozone, good job.”

You shake your head at Tony’s remark. It was definitely a bad idea picking the Incredibles for your first official movie night the previous week.

“Couldn’t do it without this suit, Stark. I guess I should thank you for it or something.”

Your words are tinged with humor, but there’s a hint of sincerity behind them.  Tony truly has outdone himself with this suit. It was a rich blue with white gloves and boots that combined to look surprisingly fashionable. They also protected your body from any harsh side effects of your powers.

“Don’t get all sentimental on me now, frosty, you’ve got a mission to focus on.”

You grin fondly and begin walking. Now that you’re actually on top of the roof it’s easy enough to jump from building to building, as all the rooftops are incredibly close together. You can see why he prefers this method of travel, it’s both fast and really fun.

“I’m approaching the target” you say as quietly as possible into your earpiece, making the last leap onto your intended rooftop.

“Remember, we’re just around the corner if you need us.”

You allow yourself a small smile. Cap always seems to know exactly what to say to calm your nerves.

It’s incredibly easy to spot the man you need to talk to. He’s perched on a ledge overlooking the streets below like one of those stone gargoyles on the side of buildings. His bright red outfit seems to glow, the moonlight illuminating him perfectly. You see the two small horns jutting from his head and crack a small grin. You definitely get Tony’s nickname for him now. You can’t help but take some delight in imagining how terrifying it must be to come across him as a criminal. The bad guys must piss their pants at the mere sight of him.

You slowly approach Daredevil, trying to use as much stealth as possible so that if he bolted you’d have at least a slight chance of keeping up with him.

At a snail’s pace you put one foot in front of the other, eyes focused on the man in front of you. You keep your breathing even like Natasha has taught you and attempt to distribute your body weight so your footsteps make as little sound as possible on the loose gravel of the rooftop.

Just a few more steps, then you can make a nice dramatic entrance.

“You must be new.”

Daredevil’s voice nearly causes you to jump out of your skin and you put a hand to your chest as your heart skips a few beats.

 _Someone else with a flair for the dramatic, I see_ you think to yourself.

“Am I that obvious?” You ask with a small laugh, not bothering to be stealthy anymore as you get closer to him. He’s still looking down on the street below, his back to you.

He pauses for a moment, considering his words.

“I heard you coming from pretty far away. You’re new to stealth tactics, unlike the others.”

He turns to face you and _oh_ … even his eyes are covered by his cowl making them as red and grim as the rest of him.

“You put too much weight on your heels.” he continues, looking at you now. “You need to distribute it more evenly.”

You chuckle. “That’s what Nat’s been telling me”.

“You should take her advice.” he replies, standing up. He’s taller than you expected. You give him a once over now that you can see his whole costume.

“You take this ‘Devil of Hell’s Kitchen’ thing awfully serious, don’t you?” you ask with a raised eyebrow.

You think you see the slightest grin briefly pass over his stubble-covered jaw. It’s gone so quickly you question if it had been there in the first place.

“You could say that.” he answers.

Silence passes between the two of you as you seemingly size each other up. Your eyes wander over his body for a moment. His outfit is clearly designed to defend against blows but they definitely show off his muscles in all the right places.

Another brief smile crosses Daredevil’s face as the thought of what the muscles look like under the outfit crosses your imagination.

Cap loudly clears his throat over the comm link.

“Mission, Frostbite?” he says awkwardly using your superhero name.

“Right” you say shaking yourself out of your trance. “So I’m sure you’ve guessed I’m with the Avengers.” It’s still completely surreal to be able to say that out loud. “And we have a small matter we need to deal with in Hell’s Kitchen.”

Daredevil remains silent and you take that as permission to continue on.

“We’ve followed a trail of some nasty people here. We have reason to believe their base of operations is in Hell’s Kitchen. They’ve been abducting young girls off the street, most likely for human trafficking, and making arms deals with pretty much anyone looking to buy.”

He nods. “I’ll take care of it. Where have you tracked them to?”

You pause, unwilling to give the information up just yet. He could really be an asset to the team if half the stories you’ve heard about him are true.

“We could take care of it together…” you begin, slowly. “As a team?”

“That’s not really my thing. I’m sure the other Avengers have told you that already. Besides, isn’t arms dealing and human trafficking a little below your pay-grade?” his tone has the slightest tinge of bitterness.

You let another silent moment pass between you, debating if you should tell the Devil the full story. You let out a sigh and walk over to where Daredevil is standing on the edge of the rooftop, taking a seat on the ledge next to him, your legs dangling. The streets below seem impossibly quiet.

Hesitantly, you reach up to the comm link in your ear and switch it off. Daredevil cocks his head at you.

“I’ve…only been with Avengers for maybe a month.  Before that I was living on the street, just doing my best to survive and hide my powers.”

Daredevil seems to sense you’re launching into a story and slowly takes a seat next to you.

“There are a lot of things that are horrible about being homeless, but I think the worst is the isolation. The way people in the street just pass by you like you’re invisible hurts worse than you think it would. So when you form any kind of friendship you cling to it like a lifeline.” You swallow hard. “There was a girl named Katherine who was homeless as well. We did our best to keep each other going but heroin had a hold on her that I couldn’t break.”

You take another pause as the ache in your chest you’ve tried to push down so many times surfaces again.

“She was one of the girls taken off the street. I’ve been looking for her ever since and we know she’s here in Hell’s Kitchen.”

You look into the blood red eyes of the Devil. He hasn’t said a word, but you can tell he’s listening intently.

You gaze down at the street below. A man with a small dog walks down the sidewalk beneath your feet and your eyes follow him as you speak.

“I haven’t told the other Avengers about Kat. I don’t like them knowing what my life was like before all of this. All they know is that I have a serious grudge against these guys.”

 “I’m sorry.” Daredevil says solemnly.

“I’m not telling you this to get your sympathy. I’m telling you because I need you to know that I’m absolutely storming their headquarters with or without your help. But I would much prefer you fighting alongside me to take these assholes down.”

The man in red takes a moment to process your words. You weren’t sure if it was smart giving him all of this information. Hell, you’d nearly just told him more about yourself then you’d told the actual Avenger’s in a month’s time, but there was just something about him you inherently _trusted_ with your entire being. He at least didn’t seem the type to go spilling secrets.

Finally, he nods in resignation.

“All right” he says. “It looks like there’s no talking you out of it. But just this once.”

Tears of gratitude nearly fill your eyes.

“Thank you. Sincerely. I’m sure Kat will thank you too.”

You give him another look as you stand and turn your comm link back on.

“-pissed him off? He seems the type to anger easily.” comes Sam’s voice mid-sentence.

“Y/N? Is that you?” Caps voice comes across the link filled with worry. “What happened? Your link went dark.”

“Yeah sorry, had some technical difficulties. Daredevil’s in.”

There’s a long stretch of silence over the chat.

“Excuse me?” Says Tony, incredulously.

“In? In, what, a dumpster again?” says Scott.

“No, he’s in on the plan, genius.” you quip back.

“We’re talking about the same guy right?” asks Hawkeye. “Big, red, gloomy, loner? Hates our guts if I didn’t know any better?”

“One and the same.”

“Looks like the newbie’s got some moves.” Sam says smoothly. You can hear the implication in his tone but you choose to ignore it with a roll of your eyes.

“What can I say, I guess he just likes me better then you guys. He’s clearly got taste.”

You hear Daredevil chuckle next to you and you can’t help but let a grin spread across your face.


	2. Chapter 2

“All right everyone, listen up.”

The Avengers stand on a rooftop across from the trafficker’s hideout. You all form a circle around Captain America and give him your full attention as you gear up for the mission.

“Falcon and Hawkeye did some scouting. We aren’t one hundred percent sure how many are in there but it’s a good amount.”

“Fourty-two.” Daredevil interrupts

The group shifts their attention to him.

“What?” says Scott blank-faced.

“There are fourty-nine people total in the building but seven of them are civilians, more than likely the girls they’ve kidnapped. The other fourty-two are armed, some more heavily than others.” He tilts his head a fraction. “Sixteen are at the docks loading the trucks. Five are on the ground level by the entrance. Six are in the basement with the hostages. Two guarding the front door. The rest are on the second level.”

The group gives Daredevil a blank look.

“How could you possibly know all of that?” asks Hawkeye, disbelief in his voice.

“I do. Trust me.”

“Dude, you are so weird.” says Tony, shaking his head and making Daredevil smile slightly.

Cap pinches the bridge of his nose and takes in a breath, “Okay, well, in light of this…new information, let’s plan accordingly. Tony, Thor, you two take the guys at the loading docks. Hawkeye, can you plant yourself on that adjacent roof and cover them? We need to make sure none of those trucks leave. Sam, you and me will go through the front door, see if we can keep em’ distracted while Frostbite, you, Scott, and Daredevil get the hostages out of there.”

“No” says Daredevil “Frostbite, you and Scott get the girls. I’ll handle the guys upstairs.”

“By yourself?” Sam scoffs

“Yes.” the man in red answers, his tone completely serious.

Sam sighs and looks away, throwing up his hands. “I just can’t with this dude.”

Cap looks Daredevil up and down.

“Alright, if you think you can take them. But if you get in over your head-“

“ _When_ you get in over your head” Tony interrupts. Cap gives him a side eye.

“Just shout and one of us will head your way.”

Daredevil nods.

“Alright, everyone know what we need to do?”

The group begins nodding in agreement before Daredevil interrupts.

“No killing.” he says flatly.

The group gives a collective nonchalant shrug.

“Fine by me.” says Clint.

“Don’t worry, Devil.” Says Thor clapping him on the shoulder with a broad grin. “We shall ensure their injuries are not fatal.”

With that, Thor begins whirling mjolnir above his head until it lifts him off the ground towards the loading dock behind the building.

“Guess that means go.” mutters Steve.

The group disperses to their appropriate locations. Sam and Falcon dive off the rooftop and drop the two goons guarding the door with ease. Cap gives Falcon a look, nods, then kicks in the door, earning a mixture of confused shouts from the men inside.

You turn to Scott as Daredevil lunges off the rooftop in front of you.

“Ready?”

He gives you a wide grin as the Antman helmet covers his face.

“Always.” he says with a wide grin, pressing the button on his suit as he becomes impeccably small. You barely see him land on your shoulder as you create your ice trail in front of you, following Daredevil to the side of the building. You silently slide down to the street level of the building and stop next to a barred window. You punch a tiny hole in the window between the bars and pluck Scott off your shoulder.

“Alright Thumbelina, you’re up.”

“Got it, Frosty.” he says jumping from your hand and through the small opening you made in the window.

“I’ll freeze these bars off then we’ll be right behind you. Just make sure the girls are safe.”

“Roger that.”

He gives a salute then jumps down to the floor from the windowsill. Once Scott has cleared the window, you bring your gloved hand up to the bars, palm facing them, and take a deep breath. With a burst of concentration, you blast the iron bars with as much cold as you can muster. Soon, the iron is frozen solid and will give way easily with a strategic kick. Wordlessly, Daredevil outstretches his arm and motions you backwards. He brings his fists up to his chest to balance himself, then gives a calculated kick to the bars. They fly off and break the window behind it, leaving a wide open entrance. You have to admit how in sync the two of you are already. It feels like you’re able to communicate with just your thoughts. He glances at you and you can’t help but give him a sheepish smile. You motion for him to head in first, and then follow right behind him.

The sounds of Sam and Steve keeping most of the goons busy lets you know it’s safe to slip inside. Keeping low, you take in your surroundings. There’s not much to the interior, most of the walls are old and crumbling and the air has a slightly musty smell to it.

You land next to Daredevil with a small _thud._ He nods at you then makes his way up the stairs on his left to take care of the crew on the second level. You shake your head, not really believing he can take on some thirteen guys all by himself. But who are you to doubt his abilities? Especially when you haven’t seen him in action yet. And if even that kick to the window was a small demonstration of his abilities, he is certainly capable.

You glance around looking for a way to the basement. A red door lies directly in front of you, slightly cracked, and you figure that’s the basement since there appear to be stairs behind it leading downwards. You creep towards the door, keeping your movements steady, and slip behind it.

Silently descending the steps, you indeed see seven girls all ranging in ages from about 15 to 20, huddled in the back corner, hands tied behind their backs. On the far left side of the room are six burly men, all six foot and taller, standing in a line with pistols and machine guns trained on the women.

 _Damn_ you think, both impressed at how accurate Daredevil’s prediction was and because you were hoping the commotion upstairs would draw the henchmen out so you could get the women away safely, but it looks like they’re under strict orders to not leave their product unprotected.

You continue slinking down the steps quietly until you reach the bottom, still out of site of the men. You touch your fingertips to the cold, cement floor with one hand and quietly exhale. A thick coating of ice, as transparent as glass, begins spreading across the concrete floor quickly until it pools under the feet of the six men.

“Now Scott!” you whisper loud enough for only him to hear you through the comm link.

With a _click_ regular-sized Scott is suddenly standing behind the line of men.

“A little chilly in here, isn’t it guys?” he says cheerily.

All six men let out a shriek and it’s enough to send them reeling for balance with the ice beneath their feet. Like a domino effect, all the men collapse into a pile before even getting a round off from their weapons.

Jumping to your feet, you sprint over to the pile of men and release blasts of ice and snow onto them, freezing them in place, but making sure their faces are uncovered so they can still breathe. You make sure to kick away any weapons not encased in ice along with the men.

“What the FUCK!” one of the men shouts. “Who the hell are you fucking freaks?”

You walk over to the group of women who are now staring at you and Scott wide-eyed and begin untying them.

“Can you believe this guy, Antman? He has no clue who we are! And here I thought we were at least a _little_ bit famous.”

“I cannot believe the disrespect.” Scott deadpans.

He walks over to the corner where you are and helps untie the women and get them to their feet.

“It’s okay.” you say in as compassionate as a tone you can muster. “It’s gonna be okay now. Antman, can you get them out of here? I’m going to go check on the Devil.”

“Yea I got it, go.”

You thank him with a nod then turn back to the women, scanning for Kat. You see her in the back of the group looking more dazed and gaunt then you ever have before. Your eyes meet, but she doesn’t seem to recognize you.

_Scott can take care of this. I need to make sure Daredevil has things handled._

You want nothing more than to run over to Kat. To hug her and hold her and tell her how sorry you are that you didn’t prevent this. But your former friend seems nearly traumatized and someone she perceives as a stranger violating her space is not what she needs right now. You break eye contact with Kat and bolt up the stairs.

Once on the ground level, you take a brief moment to analyze Cap and Falcon, but they seem to be doing just fine against the men in the common room. You round the corner up the stairs, hearing heavy grunts and shouts coming from the second level. Your stomach filling with worry, you rocket up the stairs as fast as possible.

When you arrive, you find a hallway littered with burly men crumpled in on themselves and unconscious. It takes a small amount of effort to carefully step over the men without tripping, but you manage to get to the end of the hallway where a door is partially closed. All the grunts and crashes and thuds seem to be coming from behind the door. You open it fully to see Daredevil, perfectly calm and composed, surrounded by at least eight men, fists raised, weapons scattered across the floor.

_There’s no way he can get out of that alone._

Your mind fills with worry and you stand to start your attack, but suddenly Daredevil begins his attack and-

_Oh my god._

Your jaw drops. You’ve never seen anyone fight the way he does. Fierce and fast and so _composed_ it’s almost frightening. He wasn’t exaggerating; he absolutely can take the entire floor by himself.

Still, you don’t feel right standing there doing nothing. You raise both hands towards the men and what you feel have to be at least fifty ice spikes shoot from your fingertips, landing in strategic places around four of the men and pinning them to the far wall. Daredevil makes quick work of the remaining men. You have to admit how impressive he is, especially since he seems to know exactly where to land his blows so injuries won’t be fatal, but will still take the opponent down for the count.

When all the men have been incapacitated, he turns to you from the center of the room, chest heaving from the fight.

“I had it under control.” he says breathlessly.

You shrug.

“I know. But a little teamwork never hurts.”

The corner of his mouth tugs up in a small smile. You turn to exit the room and he follows behind you.

“Did you find her?”

“Yea, Scott’s getting them out of here as we speak.”

You descend the stairs together to find Cap landing a blow on the last goon with his shield, sending him flying back to the wall where he sinks to the floor with an extended groan.

Steve looks up at you as you walk into the room with Daredevil.

“Did you find the hostages?”

“Yea, Scott got them out” you answer. “Are Tony, Thor, and Hawk done out back?”

“Seems so.” Falcon replies as he emerges from what seems to be the kitchen. He dusts off some debris from his shoulder. “Or at least it’s been pretty quiet out there for the last few minutes.”

You walk out the back door to find the trio walking through the loading dock, henchmen scattered on the ground throughout.

“You guys good?” You shout over the moans and groans of the men.

Hawkeye gives a thumbs up, Thor give an enormous smile.

“Peachy” answers Tony, his voice mechanical from the suit. “Cops are on their way courtesy of FRIDAY.”

You let out a chuckle as you walk back inside to Cap.

“Yea we’re done here. Friday has the cops coming. Should we wait until they get here?”

Steve looks to the man in red.

“Daredevil, this is your territory. It’s you’re call.”

He thinks for a moment.

“I’ll stay, stick to the shadows and make sure the police get what they need and get the women to the hospital.”

Steve nods in understanding as Thor, Tony, and Hawkeye pass through and out the front door. Everyone files out into the night, except for you Daredevil.

There’s a small beat of silence as you try to find the right words for what you want to say.

“Was there something else you needed?” Daredevil asks you as he leans over one of the men to make sure they still have a pulse.

“I just…wanted to say thank you again, for letting me-I mean us help with this.”

You can’t be sure, but you swear you see something soften in the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.

“You’re welcome.”

“And see? Teaming up wasn’t as awful as you thought it would be, was it?”

He stands and turns to you, letting out a soft chuckle.

“I suppose it wasn’t.”

You beam at him.

“Maybe we can…do it again sometime? Maybe with a few less Avengers?”

There’s a pause that feels like it lasts a lifetime.

“I…think we could manage that.”

He gives another slight grin.

Your heart lurches.

_Uh oh._

You look down, trying not to giggle like a school girl, and exit the building, leaving Daredevil on his own.

Outside the building you find Scott kneeling next to the rescued women doing his best to keep them as calm as someone can be in a situation like this. You walk over to the group.

“How are they?”

“Physically, I think they’re okay but we’ll still want to get them to a hospital for a once over.”

You nod in agreement.

“Daredevil is going to stay here until the cops arrive which I’m guessing will be any minute. We should get out of here.”

Scott looks to the women for a moment, then at you. You give him a pleading look, all but asking to be left alone with the women for just a moment. He takes the hint and walks to the approaching quinjet.

Once alone you walk over to Kat. She sits with her knees huddled against her chest and her head leaning against the brick wall behind her.

“Kat?” you whisper as you kneel beside her. “Hey, it’s Y/N.”

Kat’s eyes seem unfocused at first, but slowly her brown ones reach your  E/C ones and a spark of recognition lights behind them.

“Y/N?”

“That’s right, Kat, it’s me. IT’s your friend” You start tearing up. “I’ve been so worried about you.”

“I thought…you left. Got out.”

“I did, but I wasn’t about to forget my best friend was I?”

You lift a hand to her face and brush aside a few stray hairs falling over her eye. After a moment, you reach into your suit and pull out a piece of paper.

“Listen to me Kat, I can’t stay but some nice people are going to come and take you to the hospital to make sure you’re alright.”

You shove the piece of paper into the pocket of the hoody she’s wearing.

“My phone number is on that paper. I want you to call me first thing when you wake up, okay?”

Kat nods her head.

You plant a small kiss to her forehead then turn to follow the other Avengers to the jet.

The trip back to the tower is filled with jokes and laughter over a job well done, but you don’t hear any of it. You feel horrendous guilt about leaving Kat behind but there’s nothing more you can do here. The Avengers have done their part, now it’s time for the real heroes to take over. You make a mental note to talk to Tony alone once you land. Maybe he would let Kat stay in the tower for a while.

Your thoughts then turn back to Daredevil.  You now understand why every member of the team had tried recruiting him before. Never before had you seen someone fight the he does, even from Nat, and that was saying a lot. The way he seems to know a hit is coming without looking, the precision in his strikes, his calm and mysterious demeanor. Just thinking about him butterflies appear in your stomach.

_No, absolutely not_

You tell yourself sternly.

 _I cannot have the hots for the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen_.

But you can’t help from gazing dreamily out the window to the city below, imagining a Devil in a red suit watching you leave.


End file.
